NOW PLAYING July 17
By Don Shirley
As You Like It. Kevin Kern’s production of Shakespeare’s comedy uses late-1960s-ish songs and costumes. Dressing melancholy Jaques (Eric Zivot) as a troubled Vietnam vet is a creative touch, and the play’s wrestling match is one of the most brutal I’ve seen, with the help of a couple of beanbag chairs wielded as weapons. But generally the ensemble looks drab and anonymous. Brief visual impersonations of ’70s political figures feel strained. A big unit set takes up too much of the stage, nearly erasing the play’s distinctions between court and countryside, and the layout of the venue can be distracting. Kingsmen Park, Cal Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks. (805) 493-3455. kingsmenshakespeare.org. Closes July 13.
As You Like It. Ellen Geer’s alfresco staging is set in 19th century America – indicated primarily by songs and costumes. Touchstone looks and talks like a Shakespeare-quoting dandy from Mark Twain. Women play the traditionally male roles of Jaques and Adam, but Geer rejects any topical political gestures. The blithe mingling of blacks and whites in this Reconstruction-era forest is ignored as effortlessly as the plot’s many improbabilities. Instead, the era is used simply to point out the expansive universality of Shakespeare’s themes and language. As I sat in a dappled glen on a perfect Sunday afternoon, watching Willow Geer’s Rosalind and Mike Peebler’s Orlando, I was again reminded of just why this play is staged so often. Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga. Sunday afternoons. Only. (310) 455-3723. theatricum.com. Closes Sept. 28.
The Last Seder. A reunion of squabbling siblings and their mates at the home of their aging/dying parents is one of American drama’s most overused premises. Jennifer Maisel’s play is distinguishable from a dozen others primarily by the use of seder rituals to make dramatic points. Joseph Ruskin plays the dementia-stricken patriarch and Jenny O’Hara his indomitable wife. A few of the seder-related moments register strongly in Joseph Megel’s staging for Ensemble Studio Theatre-LA and Greenway Arts Alliance, but the play is afflicted by too many characters and too many short scenes in which two or three characters converse while everyone else freezes in place – a telltale sign of a would-be screenplay. Greenway Court Theatre, Fairfax district. (323) 655-7679. greenwayarts.org. Closes July 27.
Shipwrecked! The Victorian fabulist Louis de Rougemont made England believe that he had been shipwrecked and had lived for years among aborigines. Donald Margulies’s cheerful but hardly gullible take on this colorful character returns to the area after its premiere last year at South Coast Repertory, with an improved ending. Bart DeLorenzo again directs, with the original cast. Gregory Itzin is slyly ingratiating as Louis, and Melody Butiu and Michael Daniel Cassady are amazingly chameleonic in the other roles. Geffen Playhouse, Westwood. (310) 208-5454. GeffenPlayhouse.com. Closes July 27.
Spring’s Awakening. Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble presents its own adaptation of Frank Wedekind’s 1891 play about sexual truth and consequences among teenagers in repressed Germany. Unfortunately, no teenagers appear to be in Evan Drane’s cast, which is drawn from the ranks of the ensemble. The text sounds more natural than did the recent Production Company version, but both of these are mere preludes to the main event – the prize-winning musical version due at the Ahmanson in the fall. Powerhouse Theatre, Ocean Park. (310) 396-3680 x3. latensemble.org. Closes July 26.
This Contract Limits Our Liability: Read It! A young couple (Jonas Dickson, Kelsey Weeden), trying to spice up their sorry marriage by advertising for spouse-swappers, end up with a pair (Bill Robens, Julia Prud’homme) who plan to commit joint suicide instead of adultery. The plot twists of Joshua Fardon’s dark comedy are original but seldom convincing; the shock value feels force-fed. Kiff Scholl directed an able cast, including Andrea Ruth as a couples counselor, but blocked sight lines of the action that’s close to the floor are problematic. Theatre of NOTE, Hollywood. Wednesdays-Thursdays. (323) 856-8611. theatreofnote.com. Closes August 7.
The Voice of the Prairie. John Olive’s 1986 play glowingly evokes the early days of radio and the power of oral storytelling. In 1923, a Nebraska farmer (Tom Dugan) is recruited by a pioneer broadcaster (Michael Matthys) to bring his tales of his youthful adventures roaming the country with a blind runaway (Ashley Bell) to the airwaves. As we see in flashbacks to 1895, in which Matthys plays the future farmer, the pair of wayfarers lost touch, but the radio programs eventually reunite the two. The narrative verges on tall tale-telling, but David Rose’s staging encourages the willing suspension of disbelief. Colony Theatre, 555 N. 3rd St., Burbank. (818) 558-7000. colonytheatre.org. Closes July 27. (DS)
Published: 07/16/2008
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